


So Sentimental, Tiger

by LexieRhi



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, F/F, Female Moran, Female Moriarty, Female Sebastian Moran/Female Jim Moriarty, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:28:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexieRhi/pseuds/LexieRhi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Tiger without her Ringleader gets lost</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Sentimental, Tiger

**Author's Note:**

> **trigger warnings galore for suicide**  
> **warnings for total lack of beta/editor**
> 
> Fem!MorMor is my cocaine, and I finally started dabbling in writing thanks to a long-time RP partner going AWOL and leaving me with too many plot bunnies in my head. 
> 
> This is my first posted fic since I was a tiny 13 year old posting Ryden fics on fanfiction.net, so please give any constructive criticism you have!

    Samantha Moran sat on the edge of St. Bart's rooftop, fiddling with the gun she'd managed to steal back from evidence. Evidence. As if the pigs had really cared to know what happened to-

    _"Jade Moriarty, pleasure," Jade's handshake had been suprisingly firm for such a small woman. "Samantha Moran, is it?"_

_Dark eyes found her own and Sam swallowed. "Yes ma'am, Samantha Moran, at your service."_

_The dark eyes danced a little in what looked like guarded amusement. "Lucky for you, Moran, being 'at my service' only requires you to do two things."_

_Sam knew very little about this job. An old military commander who knew what bullshit her dishonorable discharge had been had set up this meeting for her. "And what would those be, ma'am?"_

_Jade grinned, "fire straight and follow orders, of course."_

    She'd taken Jade's words to heart. Like an idiot, a good little obedient idiot, Sam had done as instructed and waited a building away with eyes and scope trained on John fucking Watson as Jade blew her own brains out. She had heard the shot, felt the bottom drop out of her world but still stayed. In a cold stairwell she had remained, still trained on Watson even when the tears started to break through. In position, as she'd been told. A final act of obedience to the woman she had given her soul to. The gun felt colder in her hands than it used to Firearms had felt like friends for so long that the foreign feeling on her fingers would have confused her if she'd paid attention to it. But feeling numb was so much easier now.

_"This ends tomorrow, Moran. He's gotten too close, they both have." Jade paced the floor, one hand in her hair and the other holding her phone. "I still don't understand why he has to bring that dimwitted doctor everywhere. He'd be so much more fun to play with alone."_

_Sam was sitting on the couch, hands in her lap, waiting for her boss to sort through her racing thoughts enough to give Sam an order. "Maybe getting rid of Watson is the way to break him," she offered calmly, "I could take him out right in front of Holmes." She felt a chill as Jade's eyes snapped to her._

_"You don't think I already have a plan, soldier?" Jade's calm voice belied the look in her eyes that said Sam would pay for underestimating her. "Pray tell, how would you have this end?"_

    Any way but this. Anything but the shattered pieces of the empire held together by fear of what a Tiger without a ringmaster will do to those who don't remain loyal to a corpse. Sam knew the whispers of her insanity slunk through the ranks. She didn't quash them mostly due to their usefulness as a tool for keeping fear in the underlings. If they thought she was likely to rip their throats out with her bare teeth it made giving orders a much quicker process. It hasn't been easy, Sam just doesn't have the presence, the mind for business that she had. By keeping her mind on what the mission has always been, Sam's been able to keep them afloat. Don't get caught, leave a mark, always leave them reeling. Jade had wanted so badly to watch the world go to chaos, but instead she'd only destroyed the world for one broken soldier.

_"Never forget, Samantha, the power of looking unafraid." Jade was putting her lipstick on in her boudoir mirror, and shot a look back to Sam to make sure she had her attention. As she rose from her seat, the deep red silk of her dress slid and settled on her frame._

_"That's why I have to wear a monkeysuit?" Sam tugged at the bowtie that matched Jade's dress, "With all due respect, people will still know I'm your bodyguard, ma'am."_

_Jade's chuckle made Samantha's stomach clench as the smaller woman walked over to her. She put a hand on the lapel of Sam's suit, "how good is your acting, Miss Moran?"_

    The first time Jade had had Sam play the overprotective girlfriend, she found just how good Sam's "acting" could be. Sam has held her close all through that damn banquet as Jade charmed potential client after potential mark. The dancing went flawlessly as Sam led Jade across the floor. And when people had wanted the sappy love story treatment, Sam had twisted some of the details of their first meeting into a fairy tale story of love at first sight.Sam went back and forth in her mind about how long it took Jade to realize that Sam was a shit actor. She'd never been any good at it, too blunt for her own good. Being in love with Jade Moriarty wasn't acting, and it also wasn't allowed.

_"I'm not asking, Moran, I'm ordering you to drive me to Hooper's fucking house! She's an integral part of the plan," Jade's cheeks flushed with frustration as she stared at Samantha,"what the hell is wrong with you?"_

_"Since when does the plan involve you fucking some mousy little scientist?" Sam yelled, realizing too late the mistake she was making._

_Jade's eyes narrowed before understanding spread across her features, "you moron..."_

    She had ended up making Sam drive her not just to the first date, but to every one. And when she had come to pick her up afterwards, Jade would recount her evening in excruciating detail. She'd enjoyed lingering over the stories of stolen kisses between making fun of how easy it was to seduce "poor little Mols." Sam listened obediently to each tale before going home and fucking herself to the image of being in Molly's place.

_"I don't know if I should call you Tiger anymore." The words slid smoothly off Jade's tongue before piercing Sam's heart._

_"What?" Too quick, too much feeling, reel it in Samantha. "Why would that be, Boss?"_

_The look Jade gave her was burning with something she didn't recognize. It reminded her of the look Jade gave when clients were being especially difficult. "Because, Moran, it has occurred to me that you're more like a dog, a puppy even. You'd slit your own throat if I told you to." Jade sighed, "who knew it would be so easy to housebreak a Tiger? I honestly believe there's nothing you wouldn't do for me."_

_"One," the word escaped Sam almost without permission. She coughed and straightened her spine. "I wouldn't slit_ your _throat, Boss, not even if you ordered."_

_Jade smiled, "good to know, Tiger. Good to know."_

It burns to think that that moment was why Jade hadn't told her the plan. She hadn't wanted Samantha to get involved, to stop her. And Sam couldn't even lie to herself and say she wouldn't have. But Jade got so much softer in the moments after. Molly had served her purpose and was done with, so Jade seemed to turn her attention to Samantha with an increasing ferocity. She was almost constantly pushing for attention, which was normal for her, but pushing for attention from Sam was new.

_"I'm bored, Tiger." Jade drawled the words with the authoritative air of someone who know that they'll be entertained if they ask._

_Sam looked up from cleaning her gun, "what would you like me to do about it, Boss?"_

_Jade's face went pinched the way it did when someone didn't follow her internal script. "It's your job to come up with something, Moran. I can't possibly think like this." She stood from her chair and walked towards Sam on the couch. "Entertain me, Samantha," she stopped just in front of the sniper, "I want to get out of my head and you're going to do that for me."_

_The breath in Samantha's lungs suddenly felt too heavy to be air. Jade's words, they made her think..._

_"Sam," Jade said it softly, barely a breath, "Everything is set for this afternoon and I need to stop thinking about it. Get me out of my head. Please."_

_Maybe it was the quiet plea, maybe it was the fact that it was the first and only time Jade had called her Sam, or maybe it was the broken look Jade was trying to hide, but Sam stood up._

_"C'mon," she took the consulting criminal's hand and led her to the middle of the living room. Once there, she let go of Jade's hand and crossed to the stereo system. Sam knew exactly the song she wanted, a slow remix of one of her favorites. As she crossed back to Jade, the opening bars flowed through the room followed by lyrics she hummed along to._

_"What are you doing?" Jade had her hands on her hips, pursed lips, and that same broken look still hiding in her eyes._

_Samantha gently pulled Jade's hands off of her hips and onto Sam's shoulders, then she put her own hands on Jade's hips. "Don't you dare look back," the artist on the track sang softly, "just keep your eyes on me." Sam kept eye contact with the criminal, bright blue eyes to the deep brown she felt lost in. "I said you're holding back, she said shut up and dance with me." As they swayed to the music, she felt Jade loosen, move closer to her. "This woman is my destiny, she said ooh shut up and dance with me."_

_"So sentimental, Tiger," Jade spoke barely above a breath, "that will get you killed, you know."_

    As she loaded her gun, Sam reflected on the truth of that last statement she'd heard from Jade. Her final warning had been, in essence, that loving her would kill Sam because of what was to come.

    "Should have figured it out," Sam muttered to herself, clicking the chamber closed. She bit her lip hard to stop the tears she felt burning behind her eyes. "I can't keep going like this, Boss, it doesn't mean anything now."

    Samantha Moran stood up gingerly, taking a small step back from the edge of the roof. She took one last look at the city spread out below her. Jade had this entire city torn apart and begging for her mercy once, now it was just as dull as Jade had always said the world was through her eyes. Sam thought she could finally see just what Jade had meant. Her eyes fluttered closed as she pressed the barrel of her gun to her temple, as her finger tightened on the trigger.

"So sentimental, Tiger."


End file.
